After a short ride through the now crowded streets, the carriage pulled to a halt in front of the very place that Thomas had been desperately trying to escape only a couple of days before. Fate had a cruel sense of humour.
The servants hopped down and opened the door to the carriage once again, proffering a hand to help Thomas out. Thomas felt embarrassed as he took the servant's hand. Being a royal, Thomas decided, was a lot like being treated like a child. People did everything for you. You did nothing for yourself. At times he had always wished he had a maid to clean his room, but this went beyond that by far. He never knew having this much attention would make him feel this uncomfortable. Then his heart stopped.
Standing on a carpet that had been rolled out for royalty, in the middle of an aisle lined with people, stood Alanna. His legs wobbled. Quickly to hide his failing legs, he grabbed the shoulder of the carriage driver and waved toward the crowd. He hoped that was proper. What was going on? What was wrong with him? He detested this girl! But as he looked at her, he could hardly breath. Every time he met her, she was more beautiful than the last. Thomas took a deep breath in and walked up to her, being as careful as he could not to trip over his own feet.
Alanna just stood there for a moment as if daydreaming and then smiled at him as if suddenly waking up. She must have been up late preparing for this. He almost felt sorry for her.
She inclined her head to Thomas and gently took his arm in hers. Thomas felt his blood pressure skyrocket. He tried to calm himself down as they started to walk toward the palace. He didn't know how much he would be able to take. How could he feel hate and ...what? She was beautiful, but also horrible... He decided to focus on all her horrible traits as they walked into the main entrance.
“Are you feeling well?” asked Alanna in hushed tones. “You don't look so good. Remember. Confidence. Power. Elegance.”
Remember breath... walk.... don't cry... thought Thomas.
*****
It was getting later, and Thomas would be at the palace soon. Alanna was glad that she had taken the white willow tincture before this event. She needed to have this evening go as smoothly as possible.
Alanna closed her eyes momentarily and breathed the winter's air in deeply to steady her nerves as the coach pulled up to the palace. She took a deep breath and steeled herself. She hoped that the palace servants had been able to work a minor miracle with the wizard boy.
William, the short driver, hopped down from beside Gatsby and opened the carriage door. Alanna eyebrows pushed together and her eyes grew wide. A handsome young man stood hunched inside the cab, reaching his hand out to William. It couldn't be the same person!
Thomas emerged from the carriage and looked across the crowd, showing no signs of jitters. As his eyes locked with Alanna's momentarily, her heart missed a beat. She had to admit, he looked very much the part of a handsome royal. He was quite tall for his age, and, dressed in the manner that he was, it was almost easy to believe him to be quite a bit older than he was. He grasped William's shoulder in a friendly gesture and waved to the crowd. Alanna was so surprised she nearly waved back. Wave back? She was acting like a star struck school girl! What was going on? He seemed so sure of himself in a circumstance where he should be anything but. Where did he get this confidence from?
She smiled at him as he walked up to her. She needed to remind him to not to falter, to remain confident. So far he was doing a great job, but she knew as soon as he was in front of her father, that could all change in a heartbeat. She took his arm so she could get close enough to him to talk. “Remember. Confidence... Power.......”
*****
Walking through the castle to the roof top was a blur. It was surreal. Thomas felt like he was living another person's life. One of a powerful lord, being escorted by a beautiful princess, through an amazing palace. His dream ended at a large pair of wooden double doors, guarded by four, impressively dressed, guards.
The guards nodded toward the princess, and opened the door.
The doors led to the rooftop of the palace. Tables, adorned with the finest crystal and shining silverware, were surrounded in BlueShift's blue bloods. Everyone was dressed in their best attire, for what was anticipated to be the event of the century. There was a large buffet to the left of all the guests, and to the right was a symphony of foreign instruments playing a lilting subdued song that seemed to welcome in the evening. The dusk's light was at it's golden peak, casting a magical glow on the whole rooftop.
Thomas saw none of this.
In the centre of the rooftop, where the carpet led up to, sat the largest, most intimidating Blue Dragon that Thomas had ever seen. True, up until now he had only seen one, but he had a feeling that even if he had seen 100, this one would be top of the heap.
Thomas froze on the spot. How could Alanna not warn him about this? He looked over to Alanna, but she looked just as surprised as he was. She turned to him and gave him a smile of encouragement, although he could see she clearly was a little nervous as well. There really wasn't anything left he could do.
Well, it's time for me to go.
At least, that's what Thomas' reasoning centre of the brain was telling him. Unfortunately running and screaming at this point wouldn't do much good. His only path out of here lay in front of him, toward the Dragon King.
Thomas sighed. He decided that, if he was going to die, he was going to do it with his pride intact.
*****
Alanna stood for a moment not breathing. She hadn't anticipated this. When she had approached her father about Thomas, he had been very angry, true. She had however, thought that she had convinced him that this was for the better. He had insisted they would hold a dinner for the two of them, after which, he would make his decision. Alanna had, of course, seen her father as a dragon many times, but he never did this for social events. She must have underestimated how upset he was. She could feel all the muscles in Thomas going rigid. All she could do was pull him around to face her and smile. Poor wizard boy, she just couldn't help but feel a pang of sympathy for him. It was hard to believe that she could empathize at all after the previous couple of days, but she really did feel sorry for him. She was about to tell him to walk out of the room for a moment. She would create some distraction that would give him a chance to escape, but as suddenly as he had tensed, he loosened up and regained his previous confidence. So shocked was Alanna, that she almost forgot to keep walking with Thomas, arm in arm.
Who was this boy?
They stopped before the king. Thomas gave a very formal bow to her father and smiled. “Your Majesty” Thomas said in a strong voice, with none of the sarcasm he used when addressing Alanna.
The old King Dragon's eyes narrowed. He pulled himself up to his full height, which was impressive. The king would not have fit into the castle in his current state. This must have been why he set this engagement up outside.
“So.” said the king in a very deep voice “You are the all powerful wizard I have heard about?.” His voice suggesting it was more of a question than a statement of fact.
“I'm Thomas. I came here from another world, known as Earth. I'm pleased to meet you sir.”
“Hmmm.” The room went quiet the moment that the king began to talk to the young wizard. The king's eyes scrutinized Thomas for several moments before he continued. “You're young.”
“Yes sir.” Thomas replied.
The king nodded slowly, and then seemed to back off a little. “We will speak later. For now, enjoy the feast I have prepared in your honour.”
Thomas bowed deeply again and escorted Alanna over to the head table. Alanna realized that she hadn't said anything since arriving on the rooftop patio. She kept asking herself WHO? Who was this person? He was fairly tall for a 14 year old human. He looked shockingly handsome in his tailored suit. But what had taken her completely by surprise was the confidence that he was showing. Up until now, all she had seen was a whiny insulting little boy. Tonight... he was a completely differe
nt person. Who was this?
“Alanna?” Thomas asked as soon as they were far enough away that the king wouldn't hear.
“Yes?”
“Do you think you can help me sit?”
Alanna, walking arm in arm with Thomas, could feel him starting to shake uncontrollably. Ah. This was the Thomas she knew.
*****
Letting Alanna lower him to his chair, Thomas let himself breath. He was still alive. Then in his second act not related to the presence of the king, he allowed himself to look around for the first time since arriving. He hadn't expected a large dinner. He'd thought he was coming here just to meet the king and maybe a few lords. Thomas gasped inwardly. There must have been several hundred people here. Correction... dragons here. He wouldn't forget that again. Not after tonight.
Thomas saw the king take off and dive over the wall.
“He'll be changing back to his human form now. I think he wanted to make an impression.”
“Impression received. Loud and clear.” Thomas replied nervously. Cross me, and cross your name out of existence.
Alanna sat down beside Thomas at the head of the table, facing the guests gathered there. Without her sitting there, Thomas would have felt very out of place.
Gatsby was looking pretty comfortable despite his ridiculously small clothing. He sat directly across from Thomas and Alanna. To their left was a Mountain of a man with hard discerning eyes. Thomas shivered. He could imagine what that one would look like as a Dragon. And so it was that every time Thomas looked at a person that evening, the first thing that would go through his mind would be, 'I wonder how big this person would be as a dragon', followed by, 'Where's the closest exit?'.
The mountain man didn't say a word to any of the other guests at the table. He seemed to be more intent on Thomas than the meal that was being served. The head table was the only table that had service. The rest of the guests gathered had to serve themselves from the prepared buffet. Thomas was feeling a bit envious of the other tables. It would have been nice to have an excuse to break away from this man's gaze.
Alanna was making a good show of things. She was a natural social butterfly. Thomas on the other hand, was keeping quiet, trying to calm himself down from his earlier encounter with her father. He noticed the king come in some time later, dressed in regal gown befitting of a man in his station. He sat at the throne with a woman to his side. She was a beautiful elegant lady of advancing years. He decided that this must be Alanna's mother. Thomas brought his attention back to his meal, which he had only really been picking at all night. He thought if he ate too much, he wouldn't be able to keep it down. His nerves were on a razors edge, things could go either way, and that was not just true of the food.
The meal was actually quite good. Thomas found himself relaxing. He was particularly enjoying these fruit that reminded him of grapes, only harder, and larger. He knew he must look silly trying to eat them, but he didn't care too much at the moment as he was starting to remember just how hungry he was.
The mountain of a man kept staring at him, barely eating anything at all. He just looked at Thomas with those intense eyes. On top of that, he noticed the king talking to his wife while staring at Thomas. No one else was paying attention to him beyond the occasional glance to see who this young wizard was. Well, other than Alanna, but he still felt like he was under a spotlight on a stage in front of a large audience. Thomas popped another grape-thing in his mouth. This one was even harder. He started to push it around his mouth, not really trying to chew it, or swallow it. He was using it much in the same manner that people back home used tension balls. By swishing it around in his mouth, he was taking his mind off other, more worrisome things.
*****
Alanna did her best to put Thomas at ease. She figured if she kept people busy socially, they wouldn't pay as much attention to him. She would see Thomas relax, then he would tense up again, then relax... She allowed herself to look around the room, and caught her father scrutinizing the two of them.
So that's why Thomas was getting so nervous. If he wasn't careful, he was going to blow it. She decided to take control of their charade. Alanna leaned over to give Thomas a loving kiss on the cheek. As Alanna's lips touched Thomas' skin, Thomas' eyes shot open and a small round projectile shot out of his mouth and right into the forehead of Tretchbolt Argnot. Alanna flushed. Maybe she should have warned him somehow.
*****
Thomas' eyes locked with the mountain man. He tried hard to form words, but they kept failing him before finding his tongue. Gatsby stared at Thomas, Alanna, and then the Mountain man.
The mountain man spoke first in a level, controlled tone. “I believe this is yours.” He was holding the partially masticated grape-thing in his huge hand.
Thomas wanted to crawl under the table. “Uh... I'm... very sorry.” Thomas gingerly picked the grape-thing up from the massive hand and put it to the side of his plate. This evening wasn't going well at all.
The rest of the dinner followed suit with the grape incident, which, Thomas was to later learn was called a 'seta fruit'. He managed to knock over a drink that looked like milk but was green. He almost lit the table cloth on fire when he knocked the candelabra over, but finally, it was nearing the end of the longest night of Thomas' life. Guests offered their parting greetings as the slowly they started to drift back to wherever it was that they had come from. Thomas didn't pay attention to any of them. He had spent the majority of the night trying his best to not look at the mountain man, and avoid the accusing stares of the king. That didn't leave very much room to look anywhere else. Gatsby had not said very much to them the entire dinner. It was probably the quietest that Gatsby had ever been. It was as the last of the guests was leaving the rooftop that a court servant approached their table.
“The king wishes to speak with Mr Thomas and Gatsby.” The servant informed them.
Gatsby looked more than a little nervous for the first time that night. About time. Thomas had felt nauseous the entire evening.
Thomas stood up and gestured to Alanna to help her up. Alanna looked concerned. “The king didn't ask for me Thomas.”
Thomas looked up at the servant again. “Just us?”
“That is correct sir.”
It looked like the evening wasn't over yet.
CHAPTER 15
CONDITIONS
Thomas and Gatsby were led inside the castle to a small study, and asked to take a seat. The room had shelves to the ceiling filled with parchments and dusty old tomes. All of them looked to be hand bound, and probably, hand written. They looked much like books you would find in museums, or at a garage sale.
“So... you and Alanna... Getting along are you?” This was the first time that Gatsby had really said anything to Thomas all night.
“Gatsby! I do believe that's the longest I have ever heard you keep quiet.” Thomas remarked as he examined the room.
“I know that I haven't been exactly social Thomas, but you looked like you had more than enough to keep you occupied. Good work by the way. Other than that bit with the grape and Tretchbolt Argnot. Honestly wasn't expecting to see him here. He barely ever does social events.”
“Tretchbolt? Was that his name? Fitting I suppose. I was mentally referring to him as Mountain Man or The Brick Wall... but I guess Tretchbolt suits him alright.”
Gatsby laughed nervously. “He is a big one isn't he? The rumours are, that he fought in the great wars tens of thousands of years ago.
Thomas goggled. “He's that old?!”
“Oh he's probably much older than that. I think he was getting on in years even during those battles. But he's a legend. One of the last true Dragon Warriors left. I wouldn't want to cross him.” Gatsby paused. “Speaking of which, was it just me, or was he giving you the evil eye all night?”
Thomas felt ill. “It wasn't you. He's the reason I was so tense that when Alanna...y-you know... that grape-thing shot out of my mouth.”
Gatsby nodded, �
��Frankly I'm surprised he didn't reach across the table and take you by the throat for that. I doubt he cares much about royals or titles. Or wizards for that matter, considering the wars.”
Thomas and Gatsby cut their conversation short, as the doors to the study suddenly opened, and the king entered, closing them behind him.
Thomas and Gatsby rose as the king walked purposefully toward them.
“Please, sit.” The king wasted no time, and swiftly sat down in an adjacent chair.
“Thomas. Gatsby. It seems we have some matters to work out.”
Thomas had decided he wasn't going to say anything unless the king asked. It was always safer to say too little than too much.
When no one said anything, the king continued. “As you may know, I have been away for a while. Where I have been, and what I have been up to, I will get to in short order as I believe it ties into why you are here.”
Thomas looked at Gatsby confused, but Gatsby seemed to be at an equal loss.
“First I would like to apologize for appearing as I did earlier. I had to know what kind of person you were Thomas. I can't play around anymore with Alanna. She will need to be married soon, and I have to make sure that the match will be of benefit to her, as well as to the kingdom. Alanna is the chosen successor for the throne of BlueShift, so whoever marries her will one day be king. Not something to be taken lightly.”
The king looked to Gatsby. “I had thought and hoped that it would be you Gatsby. I had watched you for a long time growing up. You are linked to the Ganton Dragons, and we could use that kind of bond.” The king looked tired all of a sudden. “Especially now.” he added in a quiet tone.
Thomas Kindercook and the Pink Pyjamas Page 11
